New Records for Women in the U.S. Congress and House

With results from the final congressional races featuring women candidates determined today in Alaska’s Senate and House contests, women will set a new record for seats held in the U.S. Congress and the U.S. House, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

• 149 (107D, 42R) women will serve in the 118th Congress, two more than the previous record of 147, set earlier this year, which is also the current number. Women will hold 27.9% of seats in the 118th Congress, up from 27.5% at present.
• 124 (91D, 33R) women will serve in the U.S. House in 2023, one more than the previous record of 123, also set in 2022, which is also the current number. Women will hold 28.5% of seats in the U.S. House in 2023, up from 28.3% at present.
• However, women will not set a record for representation in the U.S. Senate. Next year, 25 (16D, 9R) women will serve in the Senate, one fewer than the record of 26, set in 2020. Currently, 24 women serve in the Senate.
• 22 (15D, 7R) non-incumbent women will join the freshman class of U.S. House legislators in the 118th Congress, short of the record of 36 (35D, 1R) set following the 2018 midterms. Their success made up for the departure of 21 (15D, 6R) incumbent women House members due to retirement, bids for other offices, or primary or general election defeat.

“While we celebrate these new records, the story of women and Congress in 2022 is stasis,” said CAWP director Debbie Walsh. “After breakthrough years in 2018 and 2020, the 2022 midterms remind us that we are still far from parity and our work continues.”

Additional records will be set by party and by race/ethnicity of women members of the 118th Congress.

• The number of Democratic women serving in the 118th Congress overall (107), as well as in the U.S. House (91) and U.S. Senate (16) in 2023 will match current numbers. These also match record highs for Congress and the House, but not the Senate, where the record for Democratic women senators is 17.
• The number of Republican women serving in the 118th Congress overall (42) marks a new record high, up from the previous record of 41, set in 2022. The number of Republican women serving in the U.S. House (33) and U.S. Senate (9) in 2023 will match previous records and mark an increase of one in both chambers from current numbers.
• Latina/Hispanic and Black women will also set new records for seats held in the U.S. Congress and the U.S. House in 2023.
  • 19 (14D, 5R) Latina/Hispanic women will serve in the 118th Congress, four more than the previous record of 15, set in 2022, which is also the current number; 18 (13D, 5R) Latina/Hispanic women will serve in the U.S. House and 1 (1D) Latina/Hispanic woman will serve in the U.S. Senate.
  • 27 (27D) Black women will serve in the 118th Congress, one more than the previous record of 26, first set in 2021, which is also the current number. All Black women will serve in the U.S. House.

Get a by-the-numbers look at women in the midterms at our 2022 Election Results Tracker, as well as further context from our analysis, Results for Women Congressional and Statewide Executive Candidates in Election 2022, and find a list of all women who will serve in the 118th Congress sortable by party, state, office, race and ethnicity, and whether they are congressional newcomers, at our Women in the 118th Congress page.